Sports

Ohio Women Fall To Akron Despite Outstanding Offensive Night

The Ohio women’s basketball team scored a season-high 82 points Thursday night, but still fell short to Akron for the second time this year, 98-82.

After scoring a season-low 35 points against the Buffalo Bulls Feb. 23, the Bobcats (6-20, 1-13 MAC) had two players turn out career performances.

Ohio junior guard Erin Bailes scored a career-high 33 points on a career-high seven 3’s, and senior guard Ashley Fowler dished out a career-high 11 assists. The Bobcats were able to find the offensive output they have lacked throughout the season and saw much improvement from their guards.

“Its not just me,” Bailes said on her career performance. “I think everybody came out to play. Ashley (Fowler) had 11 assists and Symone (Lyles) was hitting shots. It was just a whole team effort. To put up 82 and lose, that’s just something we don’t see.”

The Bobcats entered the game averaging just 53.3 points per game and topped that number by nearly 29 points. The ‘Cats eclipsed 60 points for the seventh time this season, however the Zips (19-8, 10-4) were able to score more than 90 points for the third time this season.

“It was just one of those nights,” Bailes said. “Honestly, you don’t have an explanation for it. We were hitting shots, but they were too.”

The Bobcats shot a noteworthy 48.4 percent from the field on 31-of-64 while the Zips canned 54.7 percent of their shots on 35-of-64. The 16-point loss came in the paint and at the line for the ‘Cats.

Akron outscored Ohio 46-30 in the paint and went 20-of-23 at the charity stripe compared to Ohio’s 11-for-13. Akron also topped the Bobcats in the points-off-turnovers column, 24-13.

The Bobcats led for the majority of the first half, however the overriding physique of the Zips blossomed at the close of the first. Akron headed into the half up 49-43, which transitioned well into the second.

Zips forward Rachel Tecca scored a team-high 24 points on 9-of-13 from the field while forward Sina King contributed an additional 22 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Hanna Luburgh was third on the team with 17 points.

The Bobcats will look for their second conference win as they head to Northwest Ohio to take on Bowling Green (18-9, 9-5) Sunday at 1 p.m.